36 Facts About Billy Hutchinson

Billy "Hutchie" Hutchinson was born on 1955 and is an Ulster Loyalist politician serving as the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party since 2011.

Billy Hutchinson was elected to Belfast City Council in the 1997 elections.

Billy Hutchinson lost his assembly seat in 2003, and his council seat in 2005.

Billy Hutchinson returned to the council in 2014 and was re-elected in 2019 though he later lost his seat in 2023.

Billy Hutchinson had been the driver of the car whilst Winstone was the shooter.

Billy Hutchinson had already known Spence as the two had spoken on a few occasions during 1972 when Spence, aided by his nephew Frankie Curry, had escaped from prison for a few months.

Billy Hutchinson had served as Spence's bodyguard briefly and had been in his company the day Spence was recaptured.

Whilst in prison Billy Hutchinson took a degree in social sciences and a diploma in town planning.

Spence resigned from the UVF in 1978 and, after a period of collective leadership by the "officers commanding" of each prison compound, Billy Hutchinson succeeded him as leader of the UVF in Long Kesh.

However, before long the extreme lack of discipline that then ensued became too much for a number of senior figures to stand and as a consequence in 1984 Billy Hutchinson took control again, holding the post until his release from prison in 1990.

Billy Hutchinson was nominated by the UVF as their point of contact with John de Chastelain and the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning and he helped to ensure the eventual decommissioning of some UVF weapons in 2009.

Billy Hutchinson became known as a strong supporter of the peace process, not least during an incident in Northwest Belfast in the summer of 1996.

When Billy Hutchinson learned of this he entered Torrens and convinced the UVF members to put down their weapons, even standing in front of the AK-47 wielder to prevent him approaching Ardoyne.

Billy Hutchinson spoke at an event in the nationalist Bogside area of Derry, during which he expressed support for the possibility of non-executive cross-border bodies before posing for pictures with local Sinn Fein activist Robin Perceval.

Billy Hutchinson was a candidate for the PUP in North Belfast in the 1996 election to the Northern Ireland Forum.

Billy Hutchinson was not elected although the PUP managed to win two seats in the interim body.

Billy Hutchinson returned as North Belfast candidate for the 1998 election to the new Northern Ireland Assembly and was elected to this body.

Billy Hutchinson lost his seat in the 2003 election after the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein took an extra seat each.

Billy Hutchinson ran for the PUP in the 1997 local government election and was elected to Belfast City Council as a representative of the Oldpark District Electoral Area, topping the poll among unionist candidates in this area.

Billy Hutchinson retained the seat in 2001 but lost it in 2005 to Fred Cobain of the Ulster Unionist Party.

In 2000 Billy Hutchinson was caught up in a loyalist feud that broke out between the UVF and the West Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Defence Association.

The UDA encouraged the LVF to claim the attack but when the claim was made Billy Hutchinson refuted it and placed the blame on the UDA.

Billy Hutchinson received a strong rebuke for this from the UDP's John White, who accused Hutchinson of working with Sinn Fein and the SDLP against the UDA.

The UDA Brigadier Johnny Adair was enraged by this development and, seeing Billy Hutchinson being interviewed about the feud on television, phoned one of his deputies Jim Spence, who lived near Billy Hutchinson, and allegedly told him to "go and shoot him right now".

In October 2007 Billy Hutchinson was arrested in connection with the August 2005 murder of Catholic teenager Thomas Devlin.

Billy Hutchinson was at the time a community worker in the Mount Vernon estate on Belfast's Shore Road, the area in which it was thought the killers were based.

In March 2014, in an interview with the Belfast Newsletter, Billy Hutchinson was quoted as saying that he had "no regrets" about his past in relation to the random murders of his two Catholic victims in 1974, claiming that he had helped to prevent a united Ireland by his actions.

In October 2011 Billy Hutchinson was elected leader of the Progressive Unionist Party at the party's annual conference in succession to Brian Ervine.

In 2013 Billy Hutchinson announced his intention to run in both forthcoming council and parliamentary elections.

Billy Hutchinson claimed that he would focus his attentions on South Antrim.

Billy Hutchinson has often stressed the importance of the working class nature of loyalism and has argued in favour of socialism.

Billy Hutchinson's declared support for socialism came in for strong criticism from then UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade commander Billy Wright whose virulent opposition to left-wing politics helped to push him away from the mainstream UVF.

John Gregg, Brigadier of the UDA South East Antrim Brigade and, like Wright, a man with close links to far right groups in England, was a strong critic of Billy Hutchinson and accused him of thinking "like a republican".

Billy Hutchinson has conceded that some of his ideas were influenced by contact with Official IRA members with whom he studied in prison.

Billy Hutchinson is an atheist and has never been a member of the Orange Order.

Billy Hutchinson was re-elected in 2019 but lost his seat in May 2023 to the Traditional Unionist Voice.